• Do you need to upgrade software to include new capabilities, better access, or more tracking and reporting capabilities?
• Are you trying to improve efficiencies by automating an existing manual process or leverage technology to create a competitive advantage?

Solstice can help.

You will notice advantages in our approach immediately. First, rather than creating a lengthy requirements document, Solstice associates will work directly with your end users in gaining a thorough understanding of your current and expected business processes. Next, our first iteration of the solution will provide immediate functionality to allow users to test the proposed solution within weeks of the first meeting. By working with end users, focusing on business processes, and providing rapid turnaround with a skeleton solution, Solstice can quickly uncover any gaps in the proposed solution or technology capabilities.

Publix Super Markets – Price Data Collection

In order to remain competitive in the marketplace Publix performs a weekly comparison analysis on the prices of over 700 SKUs in their competitor’s stores wherever Publix operates. For decades, Publix hired price shoppers to enter a competitor’s location and write the prices of 700 SKUs on a pre-printed form that would later be faxed to the corporate office for data entry and analysis. This process was not only extremely time consuming, but also prone to many errors making some data unusable and usually required two weeks before analysts had usable data available to them.

Solstice was engaged to develop a system to modernize the process and provide Publix with more accurate data with a faster turnaround. Working with the end users, Solstice quickly mapped out the business process and highlighted key metrics that would track the success of the new project and within five days had the initial prototype ready for testing.

Leveraging the emergence of wireless PDA’s and smart phones, Solstice created a device-based application on a $300 handheld that allowed price shoppers to capture pricing data electronically on the first step of the process. After testing the initial prototype, Solstice associates were able to work with end users and project managers to create a new list of additional project requirements and alter the scope of the project immediately, thus the end result provided more effective data. Handwritten faxes were replaced with pre-programmed pricing lists that allowed the program administer to alter the list of 700 SKUs at a moment’s notice and fuzzy logic was added to ensure accurate pricing at the point of entry.